destroyer, and lord of creation and preservation; the ruler of the world; unborn, imperishable, undecaying: I will relate to you that which was originally imparted by the great father of all Brahma(), in answer to the questions of Daksha and other venerable sages, and repeated by them to Purukutsa, a king who reigned on the banks of the Narmada. It was next related by him to Saraswata, and by Saraswata to me 9.

This Purana, originally composed by the RishiNarayana(), was communicated by Brahma to Ribhu; he related it to Priyavrata, by whom it was imparted to Bhaguri. Bhaguri recited it to Tamasitra 6, and he to Dadicha, who gave it to Saraswata. From the last Bhrigu received it, who imparted it to Purukutsa, and he taught it to Narmada. The goddess delivered it to Dhritarashtra the Naga king, and to Purana of the same race, by whom it was repeated to their monarch Vasuki. Vasuki communicated it to Vatsa, and he to aswatara, from whom it successively proceeded to Kambala and Elapatra. When the MuniVedasiras descended to Patala, he there received the whole Purana from these Nagas, and communicated it to Pramati. Pramati consigned it to the wise Jatukarna, and he taught it to many other holy persons. Through the blessing of Vasishtha it came to my knowledge, and I have now, Maitreya, faithfully imparted it to you. You will teach it, at the end of the Kali age, to samika 7. Whoever hears this great mystery, which removes the contamination of the Kali, shall be freed from all his sins. He who hears this every day acquits himself of his daily obligations to ancestors, gods, and men. The great and rarely attainable merit that a man acquires by the gift of a brown cow, he derives from hearing ten chapters of this Purana 8. He who hears the entire Purana, contemplating in his mind Achyuta, who is all things, and of whom all things are made; who is the stay of the whole world, the